The day-of coordinator checklist: every wedding duty, in order
A day-of coordinator takes a plan someone else built and makes it happen on time. Whether a couple hired you or a friend asked you to “just keep an eye on things,” this is the list to work from: what to lock down in the weeks before, what to confirm in the final week, and what to do from the first vendor’s arrival to the last box in the car, with the kit to bring. Check items off as you go; the checkmarks aren’t saved, so they clear when you close the page.
In short
A day-of coordinator runs the wedding day from a plan the couple has already made: confirms every vendor and the timeline in the final weeks, sets up the rooms, cues the ceremony and the reception, handles problems before the couple hears about them, and closes the venue at the end of the night with the vendor load-out, the gifts and cards, personal items and leftovers. Despite the name, the work starts weeks before the wedding.
What it costs
- Free: 20 photos per guest, kept 14 days from when you create the event
- Paid: $19.99 (£15.99 in the UK) per event for unlimited photos and videos per guest, kept up to 12 months
- One-time payment. No subscription and no fee per guest.
Four to six weeks before: take over the plan
This is when the plan moves out of the couple’s heads and into your binder. On the day, you should know more about how it is supposed to go than anyone else in the room.
The final week: confirm everything
Nothing on the day should surprise a vendor. If someone hasn’t confirmed by midweek, call them.
The morning of the wedding: set the stage
Arrive before the first vendor. The first couple of hours decide whether the rest of the day runs ahead of the timeline or behind it.
Ceremony: a calm start and a clean exit
Start on time, or late on purpose, and get everyone where they need to be next.
Reception: run the clock, watch the doors
From here on you are mostly keeping the timeline moving and keeping an eye on things nobody else is watching.
End of the night: close it down
The couple leaves; you don’t. Closing takes longer than anyone expects, so give it its own line on your timeline.
The days after: finish the job
A short list, but it is the part the couple remembers when they get home.
The day-of coordinator emergency kit
Pack it in a rolling bag or a tackle box and keep it within reach all day. Most of it costs little, and the one thing you leave at home is the one somebody needs.
Clothing fixes
Hair, face and comfort
First aid
Tools
Paperwork
For you
Coordinating a friend’s wedding, or coordinating for a living
If a friend asked you
Agree with the couple on what you will and won’t take on, and who steps in while you are in the family photos or giving a toast. Give the vendors your number, not theirs. For the guests’ photos the free plan is often enough: up to 20 photos per guest, photos only, kept for 14 days from the day you create the event and then deleted, so create it in the wedding week and download everything before it ends. If the couple wants the toasts on video or a guest book, the paid plan is $19.99 (£15.99 in the UK) once per event. What the free plan covers.
If coordinating is your job
Make the guest photo code a line in your package instead of a favor you do on the side. In a coordinator workspace on Eventphoto.io you buy event credits in packs, can put your business name and logo on each couple’s guest page, and can make the couple the manager of their own event after the wedding while you keep access. See how it works for wedding planners and how the business plans of guest photo apps compare.
More for coordinators
Questions about day-of coordination
What does a day-of coordinator do on the wedding day?
They run the plan the couple has already made: open the venue with the vendors, set out the details, keep the wedding party on the timeline, line up and cue the ceremony, run the reception from the entrances to the send-off, solve problems quietly, and close the night with the vendor load-out and the gifts, cards and personal items handed to the right people. They don’t design the wedding or book the vendors; that work is finished before they take over.
When should a day-of coordinator start?
Weeks before the wedding, not on the day. The coordinator needs time to read the contracts, build the timeline, confirm every vendor and walk the venue, which is why many coordinators call the service month-of coordination. A hand-off meeting four to six weeks out and a round of vendor confirmations in the final week is a sensible rhythm.
What is the difference between a day-of coordinator, a wedding planner and a venue coordinator?
A wedding planner works with the couple for months on the budget, the design, and choosing and booking the vendors. A day-of coordinator takes over the finished plan near the end and runs the day itself. A venue coordinator works for the venue: the rooms, the venue’s staff, its food and drink and its rules, but usually not the outside vendors, the wedding party or the day’s timeline from getting ready to the send-off.
That gap is why couples with an excellent venue coordinator often still want a day-of coordinator.
Can a friend or family member be the day-of coordinator?
Yes, if they are organized, calm, and happy to work through much of the wedding instead of enjoying it. Agree on what they will and won’t do, give them the timeline and the contact sheet, and decide who covers for them during the family photos and their own toast. Nobody should be holding the rings, giving a speech and running the day all at once.
What goes in a day-of coordinator emergency kit?
Clothing fixes (a sewing kit, safety pins, fashion tape, a stain remover pen), comfort and first aid (bandages, blister pads, pain relievers, tissues, mints), tools (scissors, tape, zip ties, a lighter, an extension cord, chargers) and paperwork (the printed timeline, the contact sheet, the floor plan, the family photo list and the payment envelopes). The full kit list is above.
Who hands out vendor tips and final payments on the day?
Usually the day-of coordinator or one named family member, from envelopes the couple prepared and labeled before the wedding. Agree on who gets what and when, hand each envelope over when that vendor’s work is done, and keep a note of what has been given.
What happens to the gifts and cards at the end of the night?
They go to one person named in advance, a parent or a sibling, and leave the venue in that person’s car. Cards often hold cash and checks, so move the card box somewhere watched during the evening rather than collecting it at the very end.
How do I collect the guests’ photos without chasing everyone afterwards?
Put one QR code on signs at the entrance, the bar and the tables, with its PIN beside it, and ask the DJ or MC to mention it once. Guests scan it with the phone camera, enter the PIN and a name, and add photos from the browser with no app to install. Afterwards, tap Download all and forward the emailed link to the couple the same day.
The free plan takes up to 20 photos per guest, photos only, for 14 days from the day you create the event, so create it in the wedding week. The paid plan, $19.99 (£15.99 in the UK) once, adds unlimited photos and videos per guest, the guest book and 12 months of storage.
Put the photo code on your list
The event takes a minute to create. Try it the way a guest will, then add the signs to your packing list.